Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha Yojana

What is Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha Yojana?

Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha Yojana is the flagship social security scheme of the Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department, Government of Bihar, for workers and artisans in the unorganised sector. The scheme dates back to a 2011 notification made in the state's centenary, hence "Shatabdi", and it was revised by the Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha (Sanshodhan) Yojana, 2024, which is the version currently in force.

The scheme exists because the great majority of Bihar's workforce, agricultural labourers, domestic workers, weavers and other artisans, street vendors, cart pullers, loaders, workers in small workshops, has no employer-funded cover. There is no ESI, no EPF, no gratuity and no group insurance. When a worker dies or is disabled, the household loses its entire income at once.

Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha Yojana covers exactly that gap. According to the Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department, the scheme pays Rs 1 lakh in case of accidental death and Rs 30,000 in case of natural death, with further assistance available for permanent disability, partial disability, accidental injury and specified serious illnesses. Reported assistance for the non-death components has fallen in a range of roughly Rs 7,500 to Rs 75,000 depending on the component and the severity assessed, so confirm the current figure for your specific claim on the toll-free number 1800-296-5656 before you file.

Who is eligible for the Shatabdi social security scheme?

A worker can register if:

• The worker is a resident of Bihar.
• The worker is aged between 18 and 65 years, computed as on 1 July of the year in which the application is made.
• The worker is engaged in the unorganised sector as a kamgar (worker) or shilpkar (artisan), that covers agricultural labour, domestic work, handicrafts and handloom, brick kiln work, street vending, transport loading, rickshaw and cart pulling, small workshop work and similar occupations.
• The worker has an Aadhaar-seeded bank account, or the nominee does, for Direct Benefit Transfer.

A person is not eligible if:

• They are below 18 or above 65 years of age.
• They are not a resident of Bihar.
• They are an organised-sector employee already covered by ESI or EPF, or a government employee, since the scheme is designed for workers who have no other statutory social security cover.
• They are not engaged in unorganised work at all, and cannot furnish any declaration or certificate to that effect.

Registration is what creates the entitlement. A worker who was never registered cannot have a death or disability claim paid retrospectively, which is why the department pushes registration drives through Shram Seva Suvidha Kendras at district level rather than waiting for claims to arrive.

What documents are required?

How to apply and register

1. Visit the district Labour Superintendent's office, the block labour enforcement office, or a Shram Seva Suvidha Kendra in your district, and ask for the registration form for the Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha Yojana. The form is free.
2. Fill in the form with your full name exactly as printed on Aadhaar, your date of birth, the nature of your unorganised work, your complete address with block and panchayat, your mobile number, and your bank account number with IFSC code.
3. Record a nominee. Enter the nominee's name, relationship, Aadhaar number and bank details. This is the single most important line in the form, because the death benefit is paid to the recorded nominee.
4. Attach self-attested copies of Aadhaar, residence certificate, age proof, proof of unorganised work, bank passbook and a passport-size photograph.
5. Submit the form at the same office and collect the dated acknowledgement. Keep the registration number safe: every later claim runs on it.
6. File a claim when an event occurs. For a death claim the nominee submits the death certificate, and for accidental death the post-mortem report and FIR as well, at the district labour office along with the worker's registration number. For disability or illness, attach the disability certificate or hospital records.
7. Call 1800-296-5656 if you are unsure which office in your district is taking registrations or claims this year, since the department has been shifting registration to the new Shram Seva Suvidha Kendras.

No fee is charged for registration or for filing a claim, and no agent is authorised to charge for either.

How much does each component pay?

• Accidental death; Rs 1 lakh to the nominee or dependants, as stated by the Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department for the 2024 amended scheme.
• Natural death — Rs 30,000 to the nominee or dependants.
• Permanent disability, assistance is provided, with reported figures for this component running up to about Rs 75,000. Confirm the sanctioned rate with the district labour office before filing.
• Partial disability: assistance at a lower rate than permanent disability; the amount depends on the percentage assessed by the medical board.
• Accidental injury. A smaller assistance amount, reported at around Rs 5,000 for treatment of injuries that do not result in lasting disability.
• Specified serious illnesses; assistance for treatment of the illnesses listed in the scheme notification.

Because the amended 2024 scheme changed several of these rates, this guide states only the death benefits as firm figures. Those are the two the department itself has publicised, and treats the rest as reported ranges. Ask the district labour office for the current sanction table rather than relying on a figure quoted on a third-party site.

How is the money paid?

Payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the Aadhaar-seeded bank account of the registered worker, or of the recorded nominee in a death claim. Sanction is issued at district level after the labour office verifies the registration record and the claim documents, so the timeline depends on how quickly the death certificate, post-mortem report or disability certificate reaches the file.

Districts hold periodic distribution events at which sanction letters are handed over to families along with the credit, which is why local reporting on the scheme often describes batches of 20 or 30 beneficiaries receiving grants together.

Why claims get delayed or rejected

• The worker was never registered. This is the most common and the most difficult problem, because the entitlement flows from registration. Register while you are healthy and working.
• No nominee recorded, so the district office cannot decide whom to pay. Update the nominee entry at the labour office if your family situation changes.
• Age outside 18 to 65 at the time of registration.
• Accidental death claimed without an FIR or post-mortem report. Without these, the claim is normally processed as a natural death at the lower rate.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank account and the registration record, which blocks the DBT credit even after sanction.
• Bank account dormant or not Aadhaar-seeded. A small deposit reactivates a dormant account; seeding must be done at the branch.
• Claim filed long after the event. File as soon as the documents are available rather than waiting.

Where do I complain?

• Toll-free helpline 1800-296-5656 of the Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department, for scheme information and claim status.
• District Labour Superintendent. The first authority for registration and claim sanction in your district.
• Shram Seva Suvidha Kendra in the district, set up to give unorganised workers a single window for labour department services.
• Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department, Patna, for cases the district has not settled.

A note on the sewing machine assistance

Readers often reach this scheme searching for a "silai sahayata" or sewing machine grant. On the departmental sources available, a sewing machine component is not part of the published benefit list of the Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar evam Shilpkar Samajik Suraksha Yojana, whose components are the death, disability, injury and illness benefits described above. Tool and equipment grants in Bihar run through the Bihar Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board for registered construction workers, which is a separate registration with its own labour card, and sewing machine support for artisans is available nationally through the PM Vishwakarma scheme. If a district office has told you that a sewing machine grant is available under this scheme, ask for the notification number and verify it on 1800-296-5656 before paying anyone anything.

How to check your application status

There is no published online dashboard where a worker can log in and track a registration or claim under this scheme, so status checking runs through the same offline channels that handle registration and claims.

1. Keep your acknowledgement slip and registration number ready. Every status query, whether by phone or in person, starts with this number, since the district labour office indexes records against it rather than against a name or mobile number alone.
2. Call the toll-free helpline 1800-296-5656 and quote the registration number, or the claim reference if a death, disability or illness claim has already been filed. The helpline can tell you whether a registration is on record and, for a claim, whether it is still under verification, sanctioned, or paid.
3. Visit the district Labour Superintendent's office in person if the helpline cannot resolve the query, since claim files are held and moved at district level, not centrally. Bring the acknowledgement slip and your Aadhaar.
4. Ask at the Shram Seva Suvidha Kendra in your district if your registration was filed there rather than at the labour office directly, as newer registrations are increasingly routed through these centres.
5. Check serviceonline.bihar.gov.in if your registration or claim was filed through that portal rather than on paper, since some Bihar labour department services are listed there; a paper application filed at a physical counter will not show up on it.
6. Watch for a distribution event notice. Districts periodically hold camps where sanctioned death, disability or illness benefits are handed over together with the DBT credit, and local labour office notices or panchayat announcements are how many families first learn that their claim has been cleared.

For a claim that has been pending for several months with no update from the district office, escalate in writing to the Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department, Patna, referencing the registration number, the date the claim was filed and the office where it was submitted.